Into the Phoenix dark version
by BoltCinderflame
Summary: this is a different version of Into the Phoenix that Therealme1123 came up with for me. hope you guys like it. R&R.
1. FREEDOM and flight

I've been at the School for a year now, undergoing experiments and testsworse than you could EVER imagine. Who am I? My name's Kyle, but you cancall me Phoenix. I was kidnapped my driveway when I was 15. I have flaming redhair, pale skin, I am a full 7' tall and I have a slim build. Oh, and oneother thing…I have wings. Not your average flesh, bone and feather wingseither, mine are metal… an organic steel or something like that.It's been pretty bad, having to do all these experiments, and honestly,sometimes I don't know how I'll get through it, but then I wake up thenext morning, curse whatever greater power there is that let there be anotherday of experiments, and get back to surviving.

I made a friend, though, while I was here… I guess that's one good thing.His name's Beta. The people here have some weird obsession with Greekstuff… oh well. He told me that he was supposed to be just like Omega, oneof their better experiments, but failed to lose his soul. The Whitecoats triedto make me like Omega as well, only with wings, but they never finished theexperiments. So I'm stronger, smarter and more agile than just aboutanybody, but I still have a soul. Lucky me. Also, I have a compulsion to obeyall orders given by the higher-ups, but, thankfully, I can resist those when Ireally concentrate.

A freezing feeling brought me back out of my reverie, to where the psychoscientists were injecting me with liquid nitrogen… don't ask why 'causeI don't know. The pain started immediately, it felt like I had cold firerunning through my veins. I started fighting the freezing liquid with my own"inner" fire.

Oh yeah… forgot to mention something… I can do just about anything withfire, and I have an inner 'pillar' of fire that I draw from. And even withthat, it took a full half hour to finish vaporizing the liquid nitrogen, whichleft me feeling both violated and cold as I shivered against the near poison.But then I passed out. Smart, right? But luckily, I just woke up back in mycage.

"Great, just great," I muttered, " I need to find a way out ofhere."Beta must've heard me because he agreed, saying,

"We ALL need to get outof here, but that's kind of impossible right now."

"Nothing's impossible! Us, out of everyone, should know that."

"I know, but still, it's going to be exceedingly difficult to get out ofa place like this…"We stopped talking just as an Eraser walked in to take another experiment totheir possible doom. The two of us stayed silent for a moment, and when hewalked out, I said "I have an idea. I could melt the back of your cage soyou can get out; then you can use your power to free me and we can blow thisjoint." Yeah, yeah, Beta has a power, too. He can manipulate metal, but onlyif he's got direct contact. Big whoop.

"Not a bad idea, but there's only one problem."

"And that is-" I started to say, but was interrupted by an explosion.BOOM, we both jumped at the sound and Beta exclaimed.

"What the (censored)was that?" BOOM. " I think it might be some of those reactive substances that thewhitecoats were working…" BOOM. "on, or not…" I answer. "These arehappening…" BOOM. "too regularly to be a failed experiment."I felt for where the heat was coming from… "I can feel 6 forms near theexplosions, and judging by their body heat, they're avian hybrids." BOOM.I feel a flare of heat. "And one of them just set off another bomb, that'swhat we were hearing." I explain to Beta, moving slightly in the crampedcage.

"You don't think-" he starts to say, but I interrupt him.

"I think it's them… the Flock." Then I bellow to the rest of thehybrids here with us, "the Flock's coming, be ready to run!" Just thenthe door blew open with yet another explosion and, sure enough, the Flock wasstanding there, looking mighty livid.

Max yells, "Get these guys outta here, then let's blow the joint." Theywork fast, snapping the locks off the cages. When Fang came to my cage, hetried to break the lock off, but failed. He then called out "Ig!" and astrawberry-blond teen with very pale skin, walks over, not looking at anythingdirectly.

"All right, where's the lock?" he asks, even though he was lookingright at it.

"You're looking at it, Ig." The teen kneels down in front of my cageand starts feeling the lock. A few seconds later, he took out a lock pickingkit, selected a tool, and got to work. By the time Ig finished with my lock,what felt like a half hour later, most of the other hybrids had been freed.

"Ig, you might want to move, because it is going to get really hot, reallyfast." He moves away from me and I start collecting my fire, channeling itto my hands. Once the fire swirling around my hands was hot enough, I letloose at the ceiling with one hand, blasting fire straight up, into the sky.At the same time, I let loose at where the wall joins the floor, making thefire spiral down to the ground, creating a slide.

Max, after getting over the shock of seeing someone vaporize two giant holesin the room, yelled, "Everybody better get out of here. Those who can fly,through the hole in the ceiling and those who cannot fly, through the hole inthe wall…" and the hybrids moved to obey her immediately, me included,even though I don't take orders well. What? Anyone would have jumped at achance to escape that hellhole.

As soon as I clear the roof, I swerve towards Canada, and home. I guess Max had some questions for me, though, because next thing I knew, she was in front of me, forcing me to stop and hover there."What do you want?" I demanded.

"I haven't ever met anyone quite like you. If you joined my Flock, thenItex wouldn't stand a chance…" she told me, and, unless I was muchmistaken, I could swear I detected a little awe in her voice.

"I work alone, and besides, I have a family to check on. So, if you'llexcuse me, I've got to get going now," Max, frowning, moved out of my wayand I continued flying. I flew for a few days before I crossed the Canada/USborder.


	2. Wouldn't they at least remember me?

A/N: sry for any confusion, the last chapter 2 I posted wasn't the complete one, here it is. And u can thank Therealme1123 for this story.

I flew for a few days before I crossed the Canadian border. I banked, catching a westerly wind towards Edmonton and continued flying for another hour before I needed to land. I found a cave to sleep in, not too big, but only large enough for one or two people, and technically already inhabited. But what I really noticed was that it smelled. More like one of those odd city smells from the alleyways. The ones you don't want to know the source of. I was a bit hungry… okay I was STARVED, and I went hunting through a couple of nearby fast food dumpsters to grab a bite. As I sat there, eating my hamburgers, I was thinking of just what I wanted to say to my folks… or what they'd say to me. Would they accept the fact that I have wings now? I hoped so much that they would, but I've been wrong about so much before… Do I want to risk it? Or should I just keep ht memories that I already have… the good ones? I somehow fell into a state between waking and sleeping, still aware, still awake, and yet numb, my body resisting anything but rest to recharge from all the flying and everything else. 

In the morning, I continued on my way to Edmonton. I came across familiar territory and went into a shallow dive, preparing to land. After I landed, I folded my wings and they immediately became invisible. Whoa! I turned around for a second or two, trying to look at them, when I remembered the invisibility experiments… Man, the School really can mess with your head! 

I walked up the front stairs to my old home, which, consequently looked quite a bit smaller than I remembered it previously, and knocked on the door as only I do, a series of very rapid knocks with no breaks in between them. A second later, my brother opened the door.

"May I help you, sir?" I was stunned. Wouldn't they at least REMEMBER me? I mean, I was stolen in front of their eyes! They should remember their brother… son… whatever. I felt my heart was a piece of glass imbedded into my soul… now a million shards and crumbling into dust.

I halted for a moment on my doorsteps, and then in a betraying tone of voice, I said, "No, I really don't think you can. Sorry for wasting your time."

I walked down my old street again, only in the opposite direction, soaking up all I could so that can remember all the good times without ever having to come back. I don't think I could survive another meeting with my family, you know? I got to an intersection and turned to walk to a thick patch of trees, when it started raining, thick, heavy sheets of water pelting me from above, a shower gone berserk. 

I look at a large puddle that collected out of practically nowhere, and I see someone tall, hugely tall, and pretty handsome, but my face is stretched a bit, like a child's mask on a man's face. My hair's long, too, the fiery red strands almost touching my shoulders. My eyes, though, were the most different. Instead of their natural color, which I've completely forgotten by now, they're two orbs of dark red and black, like two dying, lifeless stars buried into the hollows of my face. 

Instantly hating what I've become, I kicked the puddle, sending sprays of water everywhere, and I ran to the patch of trees, pulling an up and away and I flew so fast towards the cave, that anyone who saw would've thought I was a comet or something. I found some more hamburgers in the dumpsters on the outskirts of the city, and I sat, once again, in the cave, staring out at the rain as I ate, wishing I was able to cry, just to let all this anguish leave me… but the tears would evaporate, so why bother?

So I sat there thinking, still unknowing if they would've accepted me back, and I heard wing beats. Son of a biscuit. I stood up, pushing myself into a defensive stance, preparing myself for the ensuing fight. Two Erasers appeared. "Don't try going back home, Birdie. We captured you from there; we know where you lived. So if you try to make contact again, we'll kill them. And don't think we're joking. Besides… who'd be able to accept a freak like you?"

"Calling the kettle black, are we, Pot?"

"Yeah, but I work for Itex, where they treat me like a king, unlike you, who will never amount to anything in this world-" I shut him up with a snap kick to his chest, and it sent him out the entrance to the cave. Then I went to work on the other one, punching and kicking and blocking until he too retreated. 

I couldn't stay here any longer, so I walked up to the cave entrance, standing on the edge, where rain mercilessly pelted me, and I jumped off, waiting until the last second to unfurl my wings. I banked as I gained altitude, and headed back to the US. 

I made it all the way to Detroit by nightfall, and I landed on top of a skyscraper, letting the wind wisp through my hair and feathers while I looked over today's pit stop. "What do I need to do?" I whisper to myself, the words swallowed in the howls of the wind. And I knew. I knew I needed to kill the son of a biscuit that did this to me. But first I needed to know where they were first. So I drifted carefully down the treacherous city currents to an alley… just to be ambushed by a couple of homeless thieves. Today's just my day, isn't it? 

One or two of them had a knife, and a third one had a gun, all aimed at my chest. They encircled me saying things like," give us your stuff, birdie, we won't hurt you if you cooperate," in a throaty, hungry voice. I went for the guy with the gun first, knocking it out of his hand, and knocking him out with the butt of his own gun. Then the other two noticed, (I started to think they were just the tiniest bit drunk by this point) and I fought them off, too. 

Making sure they were still alive, I disarmed them, and found they had a pack with some necessities. I only took the knives, a mirror, the gun, and the extra cartridges, plus about thirty bucks for anything I should need money for… I'm starting forget that kind of stuff. But I walked down the streets, ignoring stares and awkward glances, until I made it into a large store with a red bull's eye on the sign. 

They seemed decent enough; maybe I could get some better fitting clothes. I walked in from the dark and cloudy downtown, and I made my way to the Men's department. It was summer, I think, so I outfitted myself in a pair of cargo pants, and a t-shirt with a hoodie to go over it, which pretty much used all the money I had. I paid for those, and a bar of soap, again ignoring the odd looks from the people around me, and made my way out. 

There might be a lake around here somewhere… Walking past a street vender, I grabbed a free map… okay, I stole the map, and I looked for anything I could use as a free bath. Lake St. 

Clair… funny. I went to the nearest alley, this time not getting ambushed, and I flew east until I made it to the lake. 

I'll spare you the details, but I got myself clean, and changed into my new clothes, and then I looked into the lake, taking in all of my face… I hated how I looked. I couldn't even recognize myself. What had I become in only one year? I didn't want to find out. Taking out the knife, I held all my hair in one hand and sawed at it with the other until all I had were chin length strands, falling in wisps about my face. I still looked into the water with disgust, but I looked better at the moment than I must have in a long time.

The next morning I woke up on top of a building, last night's events merely a blur. I took off to find another city, and, possibly, a library, or some other thing with an Internet connection. I made it down to Kansas City, which, of course, had a library with a large computer bank, and I used the rest of my money to get on the computer. I logged in, and I turned on AIM out of habit. One of my old friends was on… I wonder if she at least remembered me… I got on to the Internet and she apparently wanted to talk to me (Thank God somebody did), because she said, "Back from the dead, I see."

I typed in a reply. "Pretty much. Can I get some help with this? I need to look up the location of an international HQ for a major company, and I don't know where to start."

"You came to the right place. What company?"

I gulped. "Itex."

"WHAT THE CRAP? ITEX? They don't exist, Sparky. No way you can find a place that doesn't exist."

"Right, you can tell that to the people I met there. At the School."

"You were there?"

"Yeah, long story."

"Got it. So what info does you got?"

I typed in all they info I could, and she came up with something. A couple places in the Southwest US, one in Boston, NYC, and one in northern Africa… Morocco, I think. "That's all I can find at the moment. Hope it gets you somewhere. P.S. I feel for you. You know where to reach me if you need any help."

"I know, and I got to go." I signed off, and made my way to the closest address, 5537 Sycamore Street in Tucson, Arizona.

A/N: so, there u r, again, sry for any confusion. 

The Aviator, signing off


End file.
